My grandmother had a thing for all things Asian. She was totally immersed in the culture. She read Pearl S. Buck books over & over again (The Good Earth being a favorite), collected cloisonné ginger jars & imported Japanese figurines, had a large Buddha statue sitting cross-legged in meditation pose next to her couch, had porcelain Geisha girl lamps and even had a mural of a bonsai tree on her living room wall. And all that is just the tip of the iceberg. She had tons of hand-held fans with Oriental scenes on them. She loved movies like Raise the Red Lantern & The Last Emperor. She loved jade. She loved Asian food, Asian history, Asian-inspired scents, Asian clothes; Cheongsams & kimono robes. She was a major Asiaphile, which I always thought was funny for a little red-headed Irish woman from the Bronx. But it just fascinated her, that’s all.
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So, you can see why recipes like this immediately make me think of her, and how much she’d love it.
This is a kind of Frankenstein pickle recipe. Meaning that I got the idea from two sources: Food in Jars’ “Asian-Inspired Refrigerator Pickles“ and The Foodinista‘s posting of “Momofuku Pickles“ and morphed the two into my own version of an Asian pickle. Both pickles are refrigerator pickles, meaning there’s no canning involved. Both pickles also use rice vinegar/rice wine vinegar (as far as I’m concerned, both are interchangeable). One uses hot peppers & some herbs, the other is just straight forward. I like a little added oomph in my life, so I decided to do the herb thing as well. I thought cilantro sounded fantastic; I made some green coriander pickles last summer that Jay would’ve definitely, without question, defended to the death had they been threatened in any way. So yeah, I knew cilantro was the herb of choice for me, although Marisa says you can also use mint instead, as well as use green onions or scallions in place of shallots. You can also totally omit all the extras and make it with just cucumbers/vinegar/sugar/salt if you wish.
These photos were taken after they sat in the fridge overnight. Feel free to cut your cukes thinner, if you want to use them as more of a condiment.
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ASIAN-INSPIRED PICKLES
Makes roughly two pints or one quart
Ingredients:
- 5-6 smallish pickling cucumbers, cut into slices
- 1 chili pepper, thinly sliced, or a 1 teaspoon of hot red pepper flakes (optional, I left them out)
- 1 cup rice wine vinegar or rice vinegar
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 small shallot, cut into thin slices
- 1 garlic clove, sliced thinly
- 4-5 sprigs of cilantro
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
Directions:
- Pack the cukes into the clean jar. Stuff the pepper in there too, or sprinkle the pepper flakes in on top.
- In a glass bowl, mix the rice vinegar, shallot, garlic, cilantro, salt and lime juice together. Pour the boiling water over it, and stir. Pour into the jar, and using a butter knife, poke the garlic/shallot/cilantro down amongst the cukes as well as you can.
- Screw a lid on the jar as tightly as you can, and give it a good shake or two to distribute things. Leave in the fridge for 24 hours to marinate before eating, toss after a month.
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It’s a lovely, bright, crisp pickle. Very summery. Like I said, I omitted the pepper, but because it’s a fridge pickle, if you decide it’s too bland for you without the heat- you can always add a sliced up pepper. Then just put it back in the fridge and let it sit another 24 hours. Which is exactly what I did! Haha. Turns out, it needed a bit of a kick. So I had two red jalapeños left over from some other kitchen wizardry, and I took one, seeded it & removed the ribs/inner membrane, sliced it up into very thin slices and tucked them in the jar. If sliced thin enough one jalapeño is enough for three pint jars.
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Just be sure to wear gloves when cutting hot peppers. It may sound silly, but bad reactions are common… some people can develop blisters and burns from even the mildest hot pepper, and even if you don’t, in the best case scenario the pepper oil will stay under your fingernails & in your skin for a while, causing issues when you rub your eyes or use the bathroom later on. Red jalapeños are slightly hotter than green ones, but also sweeter, just so you know. I’m aware that the jalapeño is not an Asian pepper, but you use what you’ve got, right? If you can get your hands on a Thai Chili pepper or a Goat Horn, then good for you. Otherwise, use what you have.
If you’ve got a rice vinegar that’s 5% acidity, you can most certainly change these to a be a shelf-stable, waterbath-process friendly pickle. My vinegar was only around 4.3% so I left them as fridge pickles. And did you notice these awesome jars!? I finally found them! The elusive Ball Collection Elite® 16-oz. jars. *siiiiiigh* And of all places, I found them in a Target. GO FIGURE. Not my Target, of course, but a Target like 5 towns away. After a year and a half of searching, they’re finally mine.
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I'm Marilla. A 30-something artist, hobby baker, home canning enthusiast, gardener, DIY-er, wife, mommy of a baby boy and dog mom (to another baby boy) from New York. 
I love your pickle pictures… They are so CRISP!!!!
Thanks Peter. Have you been picking a peck of pickled peppers lately?
I’m so gonna try this. Also, Wal-mart usually carries an assortment of canning jars, so you could always try them as well if you haven’t.
Hi Victoria!
I usually get my jars at either Walmart or Ace, but they never have the 16 oz. Collection Elite! 🙁 I was lucky to get these, cause I can’t find them again haha.
Enjoy the pickles if you try ’em 🙂
Ohhh, yeah. I just bought some 16oz elites from Target last week. But I also have about 5 different Targets within 10 minutes of me, so there’s never a shortage.
Thanks for the recipe that I didn’t even know I wanted 🙂 I’ll let you know how they turn out.
I’ve heard from other people that a lot of Targets carry them, but mine still doesn’t 🙁 So weird. And I’m a cheap ass so I refuse to pay shipping, haha, although getting to the other Target to buy them probably costs more in gas nowadays.
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